Wiring or connection of radio or other electrical circuits



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[77 venfor R. SCQTNEY WIRING OR CONNECTION OF RADIO OR OTHER ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS Filed Sept. 20, 1933 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 4, i935 R. scomgv ZQZE GEQ WIRING OR CONNECTION OF RADIO OR OTHER ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS 20 RSQOi Weym/en/ or I R. SCOTNEY 2,25 61 WIRING OR CONNECTION OF RADIO OR OTHER ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS Filed Sept. 20, 1953 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 26 v a g 23% 7 25% 23.22 20 2/ ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 24, 1935 stasis iA'iEN'i OFFICE WIRING R CGNNEGTION OF RADIO OR OTHER ELECTRECAL CIRCUITS Ronald Scotney, Sherwood, Nottingham, England Application September 20, 1933, Serial No. 690,249

in Great Britain 10 Claims.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to the wiring or connection of radio or other electrical circuits and has reference to apparatus embodying instruments or other parts, generally referred to as components, that are mounted on a support such as a base board and are electrically connected in a predetermined circuit. The invention is particularly applicable to valve amplifying apparatus, such as wireless receivers or transmitters, but eliminators charging apparatus and all kinds of switch boards may be mentioned as examples of apparatus to which the invention is also applicable. It has among its objects to facilitate the assembly of electrical apparatus by providing a construction which permits the sub-division of the assembly process into specialized operations, and to enable tests, alterations, adjustments or the like to be efiected more easily and expeditiously than has heretofore been possible.

The invention is also applicable to what are generally known as home construction sets, i. e. collocations of parts more or less complete which are sold, together with instructions for assembly, so that he purchaser may assemble them into a wireless receiving set in his own home.

Although, generally speaking, in wiring up electrical circuits such as for example wireless circuits it is usual to attach the various components 30 by means of screws to a panel of insulating material and then to connect them in circuit by means of wires which extend directly across the panel between terminals on said components (being either soldered to said terminals or secured by screw means), yet this procedure has its disadvantages, When the components have been assembled in position their close grouping makes the terminals on them somewhat inaccessible so that wiring takes a long time and does not reada ily lend itself to that sub-division of the various operations which is desirable in a factory; some limitations are placed on possible alterations or modifications of the circuit such as the manufacturer may wish to introduce from time to time to improve the set or such as the owner may wish to make by way of experiment; and a certain amount or" electrical knowledge is desirable for correct assembly.

The present invention provides in electrical apm paratus, the combination of a components-board, terminals or other contacts affixed thereon at predetermined spaced points convenient for the connection of components to them, a circuitboard, spaced contacts affixed thereon registering with those on the components-board, circuit con-v September 26, 1932 nections extending over the circuit-board between the contacts thereon, means for detachably mounting the components upon the componentsboard in electrical connection with the contacts thereon and means for detachably securing the circuit-board to the components-board with the registering contacts in electrical engagement, all in such manner as to permit of the bodily removal of the circuit-board with its circuit connections without disturbing the components upon the components-board and the removal of the components from the components-board without disturbing the circuit connections and the means securing the two boards together.

Various constructions according to this invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings (which are to a certain extent diagrammatic) and in which Figure 1 shows in sectional elevation a part of a wireless receiving set or other electrical apparatus incorporating a components-board and a circuit-board.

Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 show alternative devices for mounting the components and for making the electrical connections between them and the contacts points on the support, which devices are applicable to any of the constructions shown or described herein.

Figures 6 and 7 show further constructions incorporating two components-boards.

Figure 8 shows an alternative to Figure 7.

Figures 9 and 9a show respectively a sectional elevation and a wiring diagram of an instrument board according to this invention, and

Figure 10 is a sectional elevation of an alternative arrangement of instrument board.

Figs. 11, 12 and 13 are sectional views il1ustrative of still other embodiments of the invention.

Throughout this description like reference numerals indicate like parts.

In the construction shown in Figure 1 there is a support which comprises an-upper base board which may be termed the components-board and a lower base board 23 which may be termed the circuit-board. The components-board 28 is provided with means for mounting thereon at pre-arranged or predetermined locations and in a detachable manner a number of components, of which the component indicated at 22 may be taken as being representative, and with contacts suitably disposed in an arrangement which corresponds to or depends upon the location of the components so as to permit of the ready electrical connection of said components to the contacts. The boards 20 and Bi are preferably of insulating material and are provided at suitable points as aforesaid with metal eyelets or bushes which constitute contacts and also serve as means for attaching the two boards together and for attaching the components 22, the eyelets 23a in the circuit-board being arranged to match the eyelets 23b in the components-board, which eyelets 231) are so arranged and spaced as to correspond or register with eyelets 230 of the components when the latter are assembled in position. The eyelets 23a in the circuit-board 2i are connected by wires other electrical connections which extend on one or other face of the board in such manner as to connect the components 22 in the desired circuit. In the construction illustrated the circuit connections extend at the inner face of the board 2i and are attached to metal tabs 24 secured under the turned-over lips of the eyelets although it will be understood that the circuit connections may extend on the underface of the circuit-board and may be connected to the contact points in any other suitable manner, and in order to facilitate assembly in the case of a home construction set it is convenient to provide a wiring diagram which is or may be attached to the circuit-board. It is also convenient that the mechanical devices 25a and 252) by which the components are mounted, 'pref erably detachably, upon the support shall at the same time serve to connect the said components to the contact points of the circuit-board, and in the construction shown in Figure l the connecting device at each contact point comprises a set screw 251) which extends from beneath the components-board through eyelets 23b and 230, and at its upper end is provided with a nut 28, a nut 22 being preferably interposed between the eyelets of the component and those of the component-board (although the eyelets may be arranged to make direct contact shown in 12). Hence by slacking off each of the nuts 25 the component may be removed without disturbing the set screws 2%. The head of each set screw 25b is provided with a tapped hole and at each contact point there is a shorter set screw 250: which extends through the eyelet 23a and screws into this hole, thereby serving to fix the two boards 29 and 25 together and at the same time to complete the electrical connections between the component 22 and the contact points on the circuit-board 2i, and it will be seen that the arrangement is such that the circuit-board may be removed from the components-board without disturbing the components or the components may be removed from the componentsboard so without disturbing the circuit connections on the circuit-board 2 l. The same result is achieved by the same construction shown in Figure 2 in which, instead of there being two set screws 25a, 251), there is a single threaded rod 28 which extends through both parts and through the base of the component, which connecting rod is provided top and bottom with knurled nuts 29, and with other nuts between the base of the component and the top of the components-board and between the components-board and circuitboard.

Figure 3 shows a further construction in which the set screw 38 which extends between the two boards 28 and 25 to fasten them together is provided at its upper end with a socket 32 in which a split plug 33 on the base of the component 22 is arranged to be received.

Figures i and 5 show modifications of this plug-and-socket mounting for the components. In Figure 4 sockets 32c and 3212 are provided on the base 22a of the component 22 and on the circuit-board 2! respectively, while the components-board 2% is provided with a plug 33a at its top face and with a similar plug 332) at its under face; while in Figure 5 the sockets 32a and 32 are provided at the top and bottom faces of the components-board 253, while the plugs 33a and 33?) are provided on the component and on the circuit-board respectively. While it is convenient, it is not essential that connections serving to unite the two boards shall serve the dual purpose of electrical connections for establishing connection between the components and the contact points on the circuit-board and of mechanical connections for attaching the components to the support and for fastening together the two boards comprised in the support. For example in an alternative construction, illustrated in Fig.

11, there are spring-loaded contacts on one of the boards arranged to engage with fixed contact studs in the other board, the components being attached to the components-boards and the two boards being fixed together by means independent of these electrical connections. More particularly, in this arrangement the spring-loaded contacts may each comprise a housing or thimble d9 screwed or otherwise fastened into a board, and a plunger 41 extending through the end of said housing and pressed by a coil spring against a co-operating stud d2, said stud being dished or hollowed at its end to receive said plunger.

The various boards are connected together by 1 screws it, nuts 65, and distance sleeves it.

It may be mentioned that the connections de scribed in the two preceding paragraphs are applicable to any of the constructions described and illustrated herein.

Reverting to Figure 1, each component is individually mounted upon a small base plate 22c by which it is attached to the components-board 2t and in which plate the contacts or eyelets 23c are formed, those contacts being connected to the usual terminals or binding posts provided at the top or elsewhere upon the component itself. This is a convenient construction because it perits of a certain latitude in the choice of the components without necessitating any variation 1 in the position or spacing of the eyelets 23a and 23?), but if desired the case or cover of the C9321- ponent itself could be utilized instead of the small base plate 22a as shown in Fig. 13.

Particularly in valve-amplifying apparatus is desirable that there shall be a screening plate interposed between the components and the circuit wiring on the board 2 l, and such a screening plate, numbered 35, is shown in l and 2 on the top face of components-board 23 but it will be understood that it may be placed on the under face thereof or upon the upper or under face of the circuit-board 2i especially when the circuit connections themselves extend across under face of said circuit-board. The said screening plate may be bent down at the rear to form a support or -foot forthe base-boards as shown in Figures 4 5, and in other figures, instead of employing a transverse frame member 35 is shown Figure l. Incidentally a screening plate may be dispensed with in of the constructions referred to herein if one or both of the boards'is of metal, in which case it is necessary either to insert eyelets of nsulating iii) material or metal eyelets received within bushes of insulating material let into the plate.

Figure 6 shows a construction in which three boards are used: a main components-board 26, a subsidiary components-board 28a, a circuitboard 2i as well as a subsidiary circuit-board 2 id for the components, as 3?, mounted on the panel 36. Certain components 22 are mounted on the main components-board 29 by means of long studs 33 which extend through the eyelets in the three boards and serve to fasten these boards together and to establish electrical connection between the said components and the contact points on the circuit-board but other components H2 are mounted on the upper surface of the subsidiary components-board 28a in the space between the two components-boards. These components i 22 are attached and connected electrically by studs 28a which, because they need only extend through the base plate I [2a and the two boards 20a and 2!, are shorter than the studs 38 by which the other components 22 are attached. There may with advantage be certain circuit connections extending upon the subsidiary base-board 28a between certain of the contact points or eyelets thereon and in this connection it is advantageous to employ two screen ing plates, one screening plate 34 which extends over the upper surface of the component-board 25 and is bent down at the back to form a support, and another screening plate 3% which extends over the upper surface of the subsidiary components-board 28a. The subsidiary circuitboard 2m may be attached to the panel 35 because in the illustrated construction the screening plate 34 does not extend up the back of the panel. This kind of construction makes for great compactness, and certain of the circuit connections may be made on the components-board mo, in order to simplify the connections on the circuit-board Figure '7 shows a slight modification of the construction shown in Figure 6, again simplifying the connections on the circuit-board, in which modification the components H2 which are mounted in the space between the two parts 20 and 2611 are attached and connected not by separate short studs as is shown in Figure 6, but by the long studs 38a which extend through the three boards 25, 25a and 23 with the result that some of these studs serve to form electrical connections between the compounds 22 and H2 and the circuit connections, and others of them serve to form an electrical connection between the contacts on the subsidiary circuit-board 2| a and the components H2 and the circuit-board 2%. In this manner by suitably arranging the components and choosing which of them shall be mounted above the board 20a, it is possible to reduce to an absolute minimum the number of wires or the like extending on the circuit-board 25 between the various contact points. It may be mentioned that in this construction the subsidiary circuit-board Zia is attached to and removable with the panel 36.

Figure 8 again shows a construction incorporating one circuit-board 2i and two components-boards 2i! and Zea, the circuit-board. 2! in this case being mounted between the two components-boards. Furthermore the component I I2, which is provided with a screen box I38, is mounted in an inverted position beneath the bottom components-board Ziia and one 2812 of the connections by which the component H2 is attached and electrically connected extends right through the three base boards 2t, 21 and 20a and also serves to attach and connect the component 22, which component is also provided with a screening box 39. The other connection 23a for the component i !2 only extends as far as the circuit-board 2! although, if desired, it may be arranged to extend through the three base boards to the subsidiary circuit-board 2 to. The said subsidiary circuit-board 2 la, and the component 3! mounted on the panel 36, is provided with a screening box 48. As shown, the screening plates may be provided, one 34 above the components board 29, one 34a above the circuit-board 23a, and another 35b below said circuit-board, while if desired a further screening plate 340 may be provided behind the panel 36. It will be understood that the connecting arrangements illustrated in Figures 6 and 7 may be adopted for the inverted components H2 shown in Figure 8,

In order to illustrate the wide held of application of this invention Figure 9 shows a sectional elevation of the dash-board of a car or of a similar switch panel, and Figure 9a shows the circuit connections. In this construction there is a componentsor instrument-board 28 on which instruments such as the ammeter 4i and the three-way switch 4'2 are mounted, and a circuit or supporting board 2!, each of which boards is provided as hereinbefore described with contact points in the form of metal eyelets and which boards are fixed together by connecting studs 38 (fastened at each end by nuts) which serve to establish electrical connections between the corresponding contact points 23a, 2327, on the two boards. One terminal of the ammeter -il is connected by a stud 38 and circuit connections on the board 2! to a binding post 63 and thence to the accumulator, the other terminal of the ammeter being connected in a similar way to a terminal of the switch 42. said switch is connected by a stud 38 and circuit connections to two binding posts 44 providlines while the tabs and connections on the circuit-board iii are shown in full lines.

Figure 10 shows a similar arrangement in which at the back of the circuit-board 2i there is a further components-board on which components such as the resistances G! and did are mounted in such manner that they may he removed therefrom without disturbing the circuit connections upon the circuit-board 2! or the instrurnents 4!, 62 upon the front instrumentboard 20. In a similar manner the front instrument-board 25 and the instruments mounted on it may be removed without disturbing the circuit connections or the components 4'2. ilo.

It will be appreciated that the constructions described hereinbefore with reference to the accompanying drawings have this in common, that they comprise in combination, a base-board 21!, 2| or other support or chassis, electrical components 22 mounted thereon (and preferably detachably mounted), contacts 230 on the com- A second terminal of ponents, co-operating contacts 23a, 2312, on the support so arranged and spaced at predetermined points thereon as to correspond to and make contact with the contacts 230 of the components 22'when said components are assembled on the support, and electrical connections extending upon the support between the contacts 230; thereon to connect the various components in circuit.

I claim:

1. In electrical apparatus provided with a circuit-board having fixed contacts thereon between which circuit connections extend, and with components detachably connected to said contacts, by devices which serve both as mechanical fixings and electrical connections, in such manner as to permit of their removal without disturbance of the circuit connections, the combination of a components-board on which the components are mounted and which is attached to the circuitboard, and electro-mechanical connections which extend from the components through the components-board to the various contacts on the circuit-board and fasten said components to the components-board but permit of the bodily removal of the circuit-board and the connections thereon without disturbance to the components.

2. In electrical apparatus the combination of a circuit board of insulating material, metal eyelets therein at spaced points, circuit connections extending between said eyelets, a componentshoard perforated with holes registering with eyelets in the circuit-board, components detachably mounted on the components-board and connected electrically through the holes therein with appropriate eyelets in the circuit-board, and securing means for this purpose which means also secure the two boards in a manner permitting of the removal of the circuit board without disturbing the fixing of the components to the components-board.

3. In electrical apparatus the combination of a components-board and a circuit-board each of insulating material, registering metal eyelets at spaced points in the two boards, circuit connections extending between the eyelets on the circuit-board, components having similar eyelets serving as terminals, and means extending through the eyelet holes in the components and the two boards and fixing the components detachably to the two boards and fixing the circuitboard detachably to the components-board and components.

4. In electrical apparatus, the combination of a components-board, contacts affixed thereon at spaced predetermined points convenient for the connection of components to them, a circuit-board parallel to the components-board, spaced contacts thereon registering with those on the components-board, circuit connections extending over the circuit-board between various contacts thereon, components, a metal screening plate lying between the circuit connections and the components, and means for detachably mounting the components upon the components-board in electrical connection with the contacts thereon, and means for securing the circuit-board to the componentsboard with the registering contacts in electrical engagement, said mounting and securing means permitting of the bodily removal of the circuitboard and connections intact without disturbing the components upon the components-board and of the removal of the components from the components-board without disturbing the circuit connections and the connection between the two boards.

5. In electrical apparatus, the combination of a components-board, contacts affixed thereon at spaced points, a circuit-board, spaced contacts thereon registering with those on the components-board, circuit connections extending over the circuit-board between the contacts thereon, components, contacts thereon registering with groups of contacts on the components-board, a panel, panel components thereon, a subsidary circuit board, contacts on said subsidiary board registering with certain of the contacts on the first two said boards, connections between the said panel components and the contacts of the subsidiary circuit-board, and releasable means for fastening all the boards together and the components to them with the various contacts in electrical connection.

6. In the combination claimed in claim 5, at v lease one connection which serves to attach a component to the components-board and to connect said component to a contact point on the subsidiary circuit board.

'7. In the combination claimed in claim 5, at least one connection which serves to connect a component and a contact point on the subsidiary circuit-board to the main circuit connections.

8. In electrical apparatus, the combination of a components-board, contacts affixed thereon at spaced points, a circuit-board, spaced contacts thereon registering with those on the components-board, circuit connections extending over the circuit-board between the contacts thereon,

components releasably attached at either face of the components-board, contacts thereon registering with groups of contacts on the componentsboard, and releasable means for fastening the two boards together and the components to them with the various contacts in electrical connection.

9. In electrical apparatus the combination of two parallel components-boards, contacts affixed thereon at spaced registering points, a circuitboard parallel to them, spaced contacts thereon registering with those on the components-boards, circuit connections extending over the circuitboard between the contacts thereon, components releasably connected some to each componentsboard, contacts on said components registering with groups of contacts on the board to which they are attached, and releasable means for con meeting all boards together and the components to them with the contacts in electrical connection.

10. In electrical apparatus, the combination of a components-board, components detachably affixed thereon at spaced points, spaced contacts on the components, contacts on the componentsboard arranged in spaced groups to register with the contacts of the components, a group for each component, a circuit-board, contacts thereon in spaced groups registering with the contacts on the components-board, circuit connections extending over the circuit-board between contacts of the various groups for connecting the components in a predetermined electrical circuit which is substantially complete and permits the circulation of *current therethrough and through the various components from positive to negative, and. releasable means for fastening the two boards together and the components to them with the various contacts in electrical connection.

RONALD SCOTNEY. 

